Olivia is a fictional pig character in a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ian Falconer, the first entry of which was published in 2000. An American-British-Irish computer animated television series of the same name inspired by the character premiered in 2009.

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Olivia
Olivia the pig, as seen on the cover of the first book.
First appearance	Olivia (2000)
Created by	Ian Falconer
Voiced by	Emily Gray & Jo Wyatt
In-universe information
Species	Pig
Gender	Female

Development

The Olivia book series was inspired by Ian Falconer's niece, Olivia. "I was just entranced by her," he stated. "I wanted to make a little present for her, so I started working on the Olivia book."[1]

The series is different from many children's picture books because of its stark minimalism. Inspired by the style of Dr. Seuss, Falconer chose to draw uncluttered images in black and white with the occasional splash of red, along with the insertion of real artwork by famous artists — Degas and Pollock, for example. Each book in the series explores the use of another signature color in addition to the original black, white and red images.

Olivia books have been translated into many languages including Czech, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Hebrew and Latin.

Books

Written by Falconer

• Olivia[2] (2000) – a 2001 Caldecott Honor book,[3] listed as one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" by the National Education Association in 2007,[4] listed in the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal[5]
• Olivia Saves the Circus[6] (2001) – the 2002 Booksense Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
• Olivia's Opposites[7] (2002) – a board book
• Olivia Counts[8] (2002) – a board book
• Olivia...and the Missing Toy[9] (2003)
• Teatro Olivia[10] (2004) – a fold-out theater with paper dolls
• Olivia Forms a Band[11] (2006) – winner of 2006 Child Magazine's Best Children's Book Award
• Olivia Helps with Christmas[12] (2007) – Falconer won the 2008 Illustrator of the Year in the Children's Choice Book Awards for this title
• Olivia Goes to Venice[13] (2010)
• Olivia and the Fairy Princesses (2012)
• Olivia the Spy[14] (2017)

Tie-ins to the Nickelodeon TV show (not written by Falconer)[15]

• Olivia Acts Out (2009) – hardcover
• Dinner with Olivia (2009) – paperback
• Olivia Trains Her Cat (2009) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia Leaps! (2009) – board book
• This is Olivia (2009) – hardcover (a fold-out book)
• Olivia the Magnificent: A Life-the-Flap Story (2009) – paperback
• Meet Olivia (2009) – a coloring and activity book
• Brava Olivia (2009) – a coloring and activity book with stickers
• Olivia and Her Ducklings (2010) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia and the Babies (2010) – paperback
• Olivia Takes a Trip (2010) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia Opens a Lemonade Stand (2010) – paperback
• Olivia and the School Carnival (2010) – paperback
• Olivia and the Snowy Day (2010) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia Cooks Up a Surprise (2011) – hardcover
• Olivia Plants a Garden (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia Leads a Parade (2011) – paperback
• Olivia Goes Camping (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia Becomes a Vet (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia and the Rain Dance (2012) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)
• Olivia and the Kite Party (2012) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)

Awards

• Caldecott Honor for Olivia, 2000
• Parent's Choice 2000, Gold Award Winner
• Nick Jr. Best Book of 2001
• ALA Notable Children's Books 2000 & 2001
• Child's Best Book of 2001
• Los Angeles Times Best Books of 2000 & 2001
• Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2000 & 2001
• BookSense Illustrated Children's Book of the Year for Olivia Saves the Circus, 2002
• Voted "Favorite Illustrator" for Olivia Helps with Christmas by over 50,000 children at the Children's Choice Book Awards, 2008

In other adaptations

• In 2006, Olivia was one of eight characters to be featured by the United States Postal Service on first-class stamps as part of the "Favorite Children's Book Animals" issue.
• In 2005, Olivia made her first television appearance as a doll (voiced by Emily Gray) who is the co-host of the live-action comedy television series, The Olivia Squared TV Show hosted by Ricki Lake as Tiffany Lewis.
• In 2008, Nickelodeon partnered with children's media company, Chorion, to bring the bestselling Simon & Schuster Olivia books to life in a new animated television series. The new 3D CGI series was produced by Academy Award nominated animation studio Brown Bag Films and launched on Nickelodeon on January 26, 2009.[16]
• In 2011, Polin8 Media partnered with children's media company, Chorion, to create an interactive iPad application "Olivia Acts Out" available on the iTunes Store.

See also

• Olivia (TV series)
• List of Olivia episodes

References

External links

• Olivia on Nick Jr.
• Chorion
• Brown Bag Films
• Olivia at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Simon & Schuster- Ian Falconer Author Profile
• Polin8 Media